SBV survey finds optimism among domestic banks

More than 55 percent of commercial banks expect their business
performance results this year to outstrip last year, while 14.1 percent
hold the opposite opinion.

According to the
latest survey conducted by the State Bank of Vietnam’s Monetary
Statistics and Forecasting Department, 71.4 percent of banks expected
their profits to rise in the second half of this year, although at a
predicted level of below 10 percent.

As much as
65 percent of banks predicted that their profits would increase this
year compared to 78.4 percent of last Decembers poll, which indicates
that banks are more cautious about predicting profit growth for this
year after the unexpected results in the first half of the year.

The business performance results of most of banks in the first half of
this year left many disappointed. Only 30.4 percent of banks said that
their performance results had improved in H1 against 40.2 percent in the
December survey.

Nearly 50 percent of banks also
reported that their pre-tax profit has fallen, mostly between 20-30
percent, over the same period last year.

However,
banks are still optimistic about the future, saying that the business
climate is improving at last. Most banks forecast that both deposit and
lending interest rates will drop further over the next 3-6 months.

63.3 percent of banks expected a better business outlook in the
second half and only 3.8 percent were pessimistic about the economic
climate in the latter months of 2013.-VNA